


Clipped Wings

by ForTheLoveOfPrimus



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Getaway being cute, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-08 03:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4289166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForTheLoveOfPrimus/pseuds/ForTheLoveOfPrimus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One zany femme? Check. One grumpy dragon mech? Check. Adventures that make Rodimus happy? Check, check and check. How does the newest Lost Light's member fit into the ridiculous mishaps of everyday life? She just does. Not if Megatron has anything to do with it though. Let us then follow Jolt and see just how well she fares.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Avion in Need

A/N: I present to you my debut on AO3. The story is finished I just didn't want to post all at once to provide time to make any changes for clarity and such. Enjoy! *attempts to float gracefully off stage and trips*

Planet Avion

This planet was a strange mix of mechanized and organic life. Tall spiraling metallic structures seemed to have formed naturally amongst the trees and grass as if they belonged together. Megatron shook his head. It was strange, foreign. Mechanical organisms growing alongside organic fauna. What strange world had they found themselves in? The crew was supposed to be stopping a team of rogues. They hadn’t any definitive information on how large the group was or what sort of weapons they had. Rodimus accepted the challenge like the idiot he is. Megatron only came along because he hadn’t wanted to lose any members under his idiocy. Megatron was starting to have second thoughts. None of their telemetry was online in this strange forest-like area. They were blind down here.

“Rodimus,” Megatron started. Just the sound of the young mechs name grated on his nerves. “Pray tell how we are supposed to find the Nardroids, if we can’t even find our way through this damned forest?!” 

Rodimus gave him that infuriating smile. The one that said, “we’ll wing it”. 

“C’mon Megs, lighten up and enjoy the sunlight.”

Megatron snarled something under his breath.

“Sorry Megs, I didn’t catch that.” Rodimus said, irritating smile still in place. How could anyone smile that widely and not look like a maniac.

“I said, the answer won’t just fall from the sky.” 

Megatron really needed to stop arguing with the idiot. The universe loved to prove him wrong. 

No sooner had the words left his mouth, than they heard a yell. The entire group looked up, trying to peer through the treetops. A second later a figure crashed through the canopy, with a shriek of…joy?

“Heads!” The figure shouted as warning.

Out of sheer reflexes, Megatron held his arms out sighing internally. The figure crash landed into his arms. 

Megatron blinked 

“Nice catch, big guy.” The mecha in his arms chirped. They squirmed and hopped to the ground. 

The figure dusted itself of as if there wasn’t a large group standing around gaping at it.

“Oh frag!” The mecha swore. He whistled, a long high note and tilted his head to wait.

“Uhm, hi- Rodimus began stepping forward, dumb smile in place.

“Ah shh-shhh!” He said, silencing him with a finger. His smile slipped as he stared at the new comer.

Megatron laughed. Finally someone who seemed unaffected by Rodimus’ charm.

The newcomer tilted his head back and forth, listening. They must have heard what they were looking for, because suddenly he grinned. The sound finally reached the rest of the group. Beating wings?

The underbrush parted several seconds later and a serpentine head poked through. In his mouth he held a long staff with blades on both ends.

“Oh! Serpens! Nice catch!” The mech hurried forward and took the staff from the serpent like mecha and attached it to a holster on his back.

Serpens clambered out of the underbrush and they got to see how large he truly was. Large enough to probably carry his friend on his back. 

“Spread your wings a much as you can down here.” The mech ordered.

Serpens did as told with an exasperated grumble. 

The mech walked around, checking hiss wings for damage, going as far as gently checking the underside as well.

“You weren’t hit? At all?” 

Serpens rolled his eyes and with a huff snapped his wings closed.

“Fine, fine. I just can’t have you getting hurt.” The mech said, tapping him lovingly on the snout. The mech turned back to the group.

“Is this the part where you tell us who you are? Because we’ve been you know…wondering.” Getaway asked, squinting at the new comer.

The mech turned to him with a smile, revealing pointed canines.

“My names Jolt and this here is Serpens.” He scratched his head.

“What exactly are you doing?” Megatron aasked.

He turned to him inclining his head. “Normally I wouldn’t divulge information about my doings, but you did kindly catch me and I can’t imagine what a large group of mechs such as yourself would be doing here. We’re after the same thing I reckon. Going after those pesky Nardroids. Am I right?”

Rodimus pumped a fist in the air. “Whoo!”

Megatron turned to the co-captain. “What? What could you possibly be this excited about?”

“If we had of actually bet on the whole ‘help won’t just fall from the sky’ thing, you’d totally owe me fifty shanix.”

“But we didn’t bet so it’s a moot point.”

“Still it’s the principle. He practically fell in with the grace of Primus.”

The mech in question looked around for a moment, before pointing to himself.

“…I’m a femme.”

“Wow, you guys keep popping up lately.” Skids said.

“Yeah, I will admit, femmes keep it interesting.” Getaway said, eyeing her almost appreciatively.

Whether she saw him or not, she turned to Megatron, regarding him as the leader.

As she turned, the dappled sunlight shone on her armor, highlighting strange markings running up her arms, crossing over her pauldrons. He decided now was not the time to ask about her personal tastes in decals.

“So will you have me join your group? I can’t imagine your telemetry equipment works well out here.” She said, as if she didn’t care one way or another whether he admitted her to the group.

“Can you lead us either from this forest or to the Nardroids?” He asked. 

“I can do one better.” She said, smirking up at the much larger mech. “I can lead you to the Nardroids, out of this forest, and to a nice bar.” 

Megatron was already shaking his head, but he could see he was about to be outvoted. He was only co-captain after all.

“Fine.” 

She grinned. “You’ve got a good head on those shoulders.” She said, touching her fist to his chest and prancing off, Serpens on her heels.

“Well I for one, like her.” Whirl said, speaking up for the first time, not hesitating to follow the strange femme through the forest.

“Can we keep her?” Rodimus asked aloud, trotting after her.

Megatron sighed. It was going to be a long day.

They caught up to the femme. She was standing near a large tree, her optics half shuttered palm pressed flat against it.

At their approach she perked up and grinned.

“Do you…live here? In this forest?” Skids asked.

She laughed. “I’m not even native to this planet. No, I’ve been here less than a week.” She looked around idly as they started moving. “This is actually my first time being here in this particular forest.”

Megatron started. He turned to the femme about to ask why they had entrusted her with helping them, if she didn’t know her way around the forest.

She saw his face and smiled, daring him to be snippity.

Getaway asked the big question.

“So…if you don’t know the forest, how are you going to lead us out of it?”

“A very good question, my finely painted friend. I can read the forest. I’m what you guys on Cybertron call an outlier. My ability is, as my name may have already told you, electrical currents.” 

Getaway tilted his head. “Is that supposed to make sense? I’m not seeing the correlation.” 

“Everything living has a faint electromagnetic pulse. Since we’re in a forest, all the trees are pretty connected. It’s just a quick matter of-

“Reading the electrical pulses through one tree and mapping it out in your head. Wow! That’s absolutely incredible!” Nautica said, nearly shoving Getaway out of the way to get to Jolt. 

She flushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. 

“Well thank you.” She said.

 

“Are you a practicing spectralist?” Drift asked. “That sounds familiar to something they could do.

“Really? I’ve never actually met a Spectralist.”

She easily led them through the trees, nimbly stepping over roots and hopping over fallen logs.

“Geez, Mecha’s aren’t really meant for this sort of environment, yet you look right at home.” Getaway commented. 

“Hmm? Ah, comes with the territory. I could probably navigate blindfolded. Though I’d rather not.”

Getaway chuckled.

After a while she held up a hand. 

“They’re close.” She said, simply.

She turned to them. “They mostly have a range of short range weapons. Blades, and blasters. The biggest one is the one we need to worry about. He’s got the most range. I’ll handle him.” 

“With all due respect perhaps it’s best one of us take him on.” Skids offered politely.

She grinned fiercely. “With all due respect I can handle it. Besides, it’s personal.”

They began preparing for the battle, onlining weapons systems and engaging battle protocols. 

“Jolt, how far away are they now?” Megatron asked. He looked up when he didn’t receive an answer. Jolt was nowhere to be found.

“Did she really leave us before the battle even begins?” Rodimus said, spinning in a quick circle.

“Coward.” Whirl said.

“It is of no consequence.” Megatron said, hefting his fusion canon. He could hear the Nardroids approaching the clearing. He led the other Autobots into the clearing. 

“Let’s go Autobots!” Rodimus yelled, blaster in the air as they charged.

They clashed with the Nardroids head on. Drift was in his element, clashing with swords.  
The battle went on for a while with still no sign of Jolt.

Suddenly, an ear splitting crack sounded through the clearing. The sound of a tree being split. A mech larger than Overlord himself stepped into the clearing. He growled as he approached the warring mechs. Hefting a proportionately large blaster.

“Cybertronians.” He spat. His voice rumbling.

“Bad enough I have to deal with that Drymekyian.” 

A screech drew the attention of the battle field. Everyone as a collective whole looked up. Serpens shot out of the trees, wings blocking out the sun and causing a flare. He dove, much faster than seemed possible and raked his talons across the giants face, gouging out his eyes. He shrieked in obvious pain.

A battle cry was heard from the opposite side of the clearing. Suddenly Jolt cleared the trees, swinging on what appeared to be a tangle of vines braided together to support her weight.

“You’re going down Titian!” She yelled. She released the vine and landed on him. Though she was tiny she was apparently really strong. She hefted her double bladed staff and slashed into his shoulder, dropping her weight and using her momentum to tear his armor. When she hit the ground, he resembled a peeled can of sardines. He dropped to the ground. She finished him off, slamming the staff through his chest. She leapt into the fray of the remaining, Nardroids. Now that their leader had been taken down, they were much less organized and scattered easily. The battle didn’t last much longer.

Jolt grinned and leaned on her staff.

“Don’t worry about cleanup. Some guys from the city-state will handle it soon enough.”

“That was freaking awesome!” Skids said. Normally he wasn’t the excitable type but seeing others battle techniques was something he could appreciate.

“Yeah, that was pretty cool.” Rodimus said, begrudgingly. No one was allowed to look cooler than he on the battle field.

“Well I couldn’t have pulled that move without Serpens here.” She said, patting his head affectionately. 

“Like hell you couldn’t.” He said, grinning.

Getaway flinched. 

Jolt raised an eyebrow at him.

“Sorry, I just…I didn’t know he could talk.”

She giggled. “Aren’t your cassettes back home capable of speech?” She asked.

“Yes and just because they can, doesn’t mean they should.” Megatron said, thinking of Ravage.

“So you guys down for that bar?” She asked, raising her staff and spinning it deftly before affixing it to the holster.

“In the interest of holding my position…I can’t refuse.” Megatron admitted.

“Whooo! Party!” She said, throwing her hands in the air. 

“Did you guys dock at Nars?” She asked.

Megatron confirmed they did indeed dock there.

“Awesome! That makes this that much easier.”

It wasn’t long before they were out of the forest and back into civilization.

“Are you docked on Nars? We’re going to transform and head there now.” Rodimus said.

She grinned and nodded. “I’ll catch up.”

“Do you not have an alt mode?” Getaway asked, noticing she didn’t have wings or flying apparatus.

“Ha. Not a typical alt mode.” She said, turning away.

“Anyway, I need to get cleaned up and such, so I’ll meet you guys at the docking port.”

She cleared a few steps and Serpens who was gliding overhead, gasped her shoulders with his front claws.

With a mechanical sound, they appeared to have combined. She gave her wings a good flap and they were soaring. 

Whirl gave a laugh and transformed, chasing after her.

“See you losers later!”

“Fliers.” Getaway muttered as he transformed. Everyone else followed suit.

It took them a surprisingly short time to get to the dock. 

Jolt and Serpens transformed in midair, dropping neatly to the ground.

“Whoa! This is you guys?” she asked, craning her head back to see the entirety of the ship.

“Holy Pit!” 

Rodimus beamed. “Yeah that’s the Lost Light.” He said, proudly.

“Certainly this isn’t your whole crew.” She said, gesturing to the others.

“Now were over 200 strong.” Her jaw dropped.

“Jeez.” 

She turned to head for her tiny craft.

“Well, I’ll meet you guys at the bar. It’s called Hidole.” She said, before boarding with Serpens.

“We are so going.”


	2. A New Comrade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long! I feel like a slacker but because of that, please enjoy a double upload.

The crew showed up to the bar. She’d said bar but this was certainly more like a club. A bouncer outside stopped them. His burly chest could give Megatron a run for his money.

“Hmm, I’ve not seen you lot before.” He said, taking them in and not bothering to uncross his arms.

“Yeah, we’re not from here. From Avion I mean. We were invited by chance.” Rodimus said with a confident smile. The bouncer blinked for a moment before his optics narrowed. It was hard to shake off Rodimus’ charms.

“You were invited here huh? You know how many get “invited” here?” He asked, snark taking over.

Another bouncer strode up, this one with a much more jovial expression.

“Wait, are you Megatron’s crew?” The second bouncer asked.

Rodimus groaned. When he recovered from his bout of angst he smiled again. 

“Well he’s my co-captain so…”

The new bouncer nudged the other.

“These are the guys Jolt was talking about.”

The bouncer suddenly looked sheepish.

“Damn. Right this way fellas.” He waved the lot through the doors.

“Wow, just mentioning her name got us through?” Getaway said. “I’m kind of impressed.”

“Wow! I thought the music was loud outside!” Tailgate chirped, having joined them on their arrival to the ship.

“It’s very….active.” Ultra Magnus quipped staring around.

He was right. From the doorway they had to pass through the entrance hall. The lighting was very dim, but the walkway was studded with multi-colored lights, preventing them from tripping over their feet. It also made you feel like a celebrity.

They entered the main area. The pulse from the bass was enough to rattle frames. Flashing lights made it easy to get lost in the general vibe of the place. The entire group stood blinking and staring at the sights around them.

It didn’t take them long to spot Jolt, her blue, white and yellow paint job, reflecting the lights marvelously as she danced in a group.

She spun happily throwing her hands in the air. On one of her spins she spotted the group and waved frantically before making her way to them.

“You guys came!” She chirped, lilac eyes lit with excitement, and perhaps the beginnings of a high-grade overcharge.

“Come! We shall get you all drinks!” She led them to a huge bar. With a whistle one of the bartenders waved two others over and they began taking drink requests. When they began trying to pay, Jolt held her hand out to stop them.

“Drinks are on the house for Lost Light crew. It’s their way of thanking you guys for helping rid Avion of those Nardroids.” Jolt said, leaning so they could hear. Those that heard, relayed the message to the rest of the crew. Whoops of joy were heard.

Once everyone had a drink, they went on the prowl to the dance floor. Those that didn’t dance were led over to Jolt’s table where they could hang out and mingle.

“Wanna dance with me?” Getaway asked, holding his hand out. Jolt had been sitting off to the side watching the rest have fun, taking a break. She had been drinking something with an enticing aroma through a curly straw. She grinned around the straw, before taking it out and downing the drink.

“Sure thing.”

She grasped his hand and let him pull her out to the dance floor.

She giggled as he spun her around, pulling her back close, before letting the music take her away again. Getaway perhaps wasn’t the best dancer, but he was skilled at hearing the beat and letting it lead for him. It helped that everything he did, he did with finesse. He made up for what he lacked in innovative new moves, with superior timing.

She laughed when the song changed, both of them reluctant to let go. She grinned.

“Another drink. Then another dance. Yes?”

He laughed with her and they headed for the bar.

“Jolt, who are you really?” He said, taking a drink of his triple filtered high-grade.

She was studying the deep swirling blue of her ankmore energon when she heard him. She peeked at him coyly. 

“You know who I am. What else would you like to know?” 

He turned on the barstool and leaned his elbows on his knees to look up at her.

“I don’t know. Where are you from?” 

She went back to pondering her energon, a tiny smile pulling at her lips. He decided it wasn’t a very happy smile and regretted the question, but it was already out there.

“Drymekyia. I was born there, but I don’t consider it my home. Not anymore.” She shook her head, the smile reaching her eyes again.

“Where is your home?” He asked.

She took a swig of energon, optics lighting up at the thought.

“I don’t have one.” She said, waiting for his reaction. His optic ridges rose. 

“You don’t…what?”

“I left Drymekyia at a really young age and never really looked back. Nor did any of the people I considered friends. I’ve been sort of traveling around ever since. Sometimes I find a place I really like, but even then I don’t stay long.” She swirled the glass around.

“So you’ve never really settled down? Just stuck it out on your own?”

She laughed. “Yeah, just me and Serpens.”

“Where is he by the way?” 

She shot him an amused look before pointing to the other end of the bar. He turned to look. Serpens was sitting at the bar, drinking energon. The bartender would serve the energon in a mug, just for him and he would hook his tail through the handle.

Getaway snorted in amusement.

“Well that answers that question.” He watched her as she took in the other club goers.

“Can I ask a slightly personal question?” 

“Shoot.” She said, before taking a sip of energon.

“God, I sound just like Nightbeat.”He groaned.

“Who?”

“Nevermind. Do you have an amica endura, or a conjunx endura?”

She smiled almost shyly, which caught Getaway off guard.

“No, but thinking about it now doesn’t seem so weird. I’m really young as far as mecha go to be honest.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How old are you?”

She looked away and he wondered if she were embarrassed. 

“I’m a little over three million years.”

She looked almost relieved when he didn’t look surprised. 

There was a lull for a moment before he asked another question.

“What’s next for you and Serpens?” 

She shrugged as she drained her glass and placed it on the bar.

“We tend to go where adventure takes us.”

He nodded. An adventurous heart. She and Skids would get along fabulously. He told her as such.

“You mean the tall mech with the amnesia?” She asked, standing to her feet.

“How did you know he has amnesia?” Getaway asked, looking almost suspiciously.

“He seems like the kind of guy who’s still figuring out who he is. I figure most of you guys are 4 and 5 million years old. Seems a bit old to still be getting in touch with himself.”

Getaway relaxed again. “You’re awfully observant.”

She shrugged and pulled him to his feet. “Comes with the territory. Stay alert, stay alive.”

He chuckled and let her pull him to his feet.

“I take it you want to dance again?”

“I take it you’re okay with that?” 

He only smiled his response and let her lead the way, taking notice of the way her hips swayed naturally when she walked.

 

Skids let himself drop into the seat opposite Getaway. He grinned when his friend didn’t immediately notice him.

He drummed his fingers on the table, amusement lighting his yellow optics.

“Skids my man.” Getaway said, leaning forward when he noticed him to “bomp” him on the chin. “Saw you with that sassy seeker.” Skids chuckled and leaned back. 

“Yeah he was just the right touch of confident. Not too arrogant like most seekers I’ve met.”

He grinned, knowing that his friend was watching for the cute femme Jolt.

“Saw you puttin’ the moves on Jolt.”

“What? The moves? I don’t even have any moves. We’re just friendly.” Getaway said, with an easy laugh.

“Uh huh.” Skids said, unconvinced. “Friendly. And that’s why you two have been dancing nonstop all night. Sure.” He teased.

Getaway tore his eyes away from where Jolt was chatting with Nautica. Nautica who was a sweet, shy femme leaned forward laughing hysterically at something Jolt had said. Meanwhile Jolt was waving her arms wildly to convey a story. She had managed to draw even Nautica out of her shell. There was something to be said about a bot like that.

He focused on Skids.

“Ya know…she doesn’t have like a homeworld apparently.” 

“What?” 

Getaway gave him the abridged version of what she’d told him. He even told him, how they would have made great friends.

“So basically, she doesn’t have any actual obligations.”

Getaway shrugged. “Pretty much.” His eyes wandered back to the femme in question. She happened to look up at the same time, her lips quirking into a smile, her lilac optics crinkling at the corners.

She drew her attention back to Nautica, swinging her legs and laughing at the appropriate parts of the story. 

 

The group stood at the docks. They had walked back as a group, most too overcharged to drive their altmodes. Shy, yet overcharged Nautica had her arms around Jolt. 

“I’m so sad! We just met and already we have to part ways.” Nautica said.

“Awh Nautica, you’re going to make me cry.” Jolt said, patting her on the back. “It’s never been this hard to say goodbye before.”

Nautica drew away. “Jolt make sure you keep in contact.” She said, shaking her shoulders.

“I swear.” She said, holding up a hand. “Scouts honor.”

“Are you…are you a scout?” Nautica asked.

Jolt snorted. “It’s just a saying, jeez Nautica.”

Her eyes fell on Getaway. She gave him a fond smile.

“This is crazy weird for me.” She said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“What? Finding people who you actually realize you could be quite fond of? I can see the inherent weirdness.” Getaway said.

She snickered. “Oh shut up.”

They both fell silent, Getaway rubbing his arm. They both started to speak simultaneously.

“You first.” Jolt said, with a laugh.

“I’m glad we met. Even if for really only a few hours. I had a lot of fun.”

She smiled and ducked her head. “I’m glad we met too.”

The pair fell silent

“Well I guess, we ought to get going.” She looked down and ran her hand over Serpens head.

She smiled and threw her arms around Getaway suddenly and pecked him on the cheek.

His brow ridges raised in surprise. 

“What?-

She shrugged. “If nothing else, thanks for showing me a good time.” She turned to go with a wave. She stepped onto the boarding plank and vanished inside.

Getaway turned back to the Lost Light with Nautica who seemed as equally downcast.

“I wasn’t even this sad when my actual Amica Endura left.” She said.

Getaway could understand that sentiment. They hadn’t even known her that long and already it felt like they were saying goodbye to an old friend.

They boarding the Lost Light and headed for the bridge.

Skids was talking to Rodimus. The co-captain was nodding at whatever he was saying his arms crossed.

The ship was powering up and Getaway could feel his mood deteriorating.

“That’s not a bad idea Skids…she was pretty impressive on the battle field.” Rodimus thumbed his chin in thought. “But I think her ship has already taken off. I can’t promise we can actually catch her.”

Nautica perked up. “Are you guys talking about Jolt?”

“Yeah Skids proposed she could make an excellent addition. Even Drift agrees.”

“Drift agrees with everything you say.” Ultra Magnus muttered.

“I have her hailing frequency!” Nautica exclaimed. Everyone stared. “What? We hit it off…”

Rodimus took the proffered digipad and entered the hailing frequency.

Getaway sidled up to Skids and muttered. “Have I ever told you that you are my best friend?”

Skids gave him a sideways smile. “You could stand to say it more.”

“Hello…hey Jolt.” 

“Navi, on screen please.” Came Jolt’s voice. Her image swam into view. Her face illuminated by a glow from beneath, obviously not her navigation console since she was seated in the center.

“Your hailing etiquette is flawless captain.” She said, chuckling.

Megatron laughed.

Rodimus rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Greetings Jolt of Nowhere. I am Captain Rodimus of the Lost Light. Permission to address as a familiar?”

“Permission granted captain.”

“I do like one who is a fan of protocol.” Megatron muttered to Ultra Magnus. He readily agreed.

“It has come to my attention, that you have no moral or personal obligation to any one thing. The crew of the Lost Light has grown rather fond of you after fighting alongside you today and would like to extend an invitation to join us. We are on a quest to find the Knights of Cybertron.”

She opened and closed her mouth several times.

“What?” She asked, dropping the pretense of politeness.

“I said-

“No, no sorry. I’m sorry. I heard you…I just….”

Nautica shoved Getaway into view and stood next to him.

“C’mon Jolt. It’s like a big family. I know you don’t exactly…know what it’s like but….try it out. You wouldn’t even have to stay if you don’t like it.” She pleaded. Her words only a little slurred.

Jolt looked down, presumably at Serpens.

“What do you think? Worth a shot?”

The whole room could hear his snort.

She laughed and looked back on screen.

“If you’ll have me, then yes. Yes, we’ll join your crew. Is there any possible way for me to dock in your giant as slag ship?”

The room laughed. 

“Of course.” Rodimus said. 

She smiled broadly. 

“Okay, if you guys stay the current course. I can actually back track and dock within 15 minutes.”

“Sounds good. We’ll be waiting.”

Jolt, over and out.” The screen clicked off. It was only dim for several seconds before they were hailed again.

Getaway chuckled already knowing who it was.

“Sorry!” She chirped. “That was rude. In my excitement I totally hung up on you. You were supposed to end call.” She said, her eyes mirthful.

Rodimus waved her away. “Jolt it’s fine.” He assured her laughing along with the rest of the crew present.

“Okay then, over and out.”

The screen went dead and Rodimus turned to the rest of the crew.

“She is something else.”

 

Jolt stepped out of the ship, Serpens at her heels. She gaped at the size of the docking bay. It fit what looked like a scout ship and 12 other smaller ships. She shook her head. She hesitated at the door that would bring her into the main part.

“I’m not used to feeling this nervous.” She said aloud.

“It’s pretty natural.” Serpens said, pressing against her side.

“Yeah I suppose. I guess I’m not used to people calling on me after the fact.”

“Well if they invited you to join the crew, it just means they have good taste.”

She chuckled and palmed the entry. The door opened and she pressed a palm to the wall. She could feel her way to the bridge easily. She headed there first.

She got odd looks from bots she hadn’t met yet, but she didn’t mind it. She would know them all soon enough.

“Hey you made it.” She heard the nearly familiar tone of Rodimus. The bridge was packed with mechs and it took her several moments to locate him. He waded through the crowd, Getaway, Nautica and Skids in tow.

“You’re back!” Nautica said, clasping her hands together.

“I am! And also still a bit overcharged. Which is wonderful.” 

Nautica seemed to check her internal chronometer. “Well it’s not too late.” 

“You’re right.” Jolt said, seeing where this is going. “We did leave the club at a pretty reasonable time.”

They all shrugged.

“More drinks!” Rodimus cheered and the group made their way to the bar.

Getaway knocked shoulders with Jolt and smiled.

“Glad you joined the crew.” 

She laughed. “I’m glad too. This is nice.”

Skids shot his friend a knowing look.

They made it to Swerves and Jolt’s jaw dropped. “You have the coolest ship, ever.” 

“You like the place then?” Swerve asked, sidling up to her as they sat at the bar to order drinks.

“I do! Are you Sweve?” 

“That I am.”

“Wow.”

She ordered a drink and spun in her chair, observing the bar and its inhabitants.

“Whoa! Jolt!? No way!” A voice cried out. She looked around for the source of the voice.

A blue and white flash leapt up to hug her.

“Sneak attack hug!” Tailgate yelled, hugging her gleefuly. 

“Hi, cutie-pie!” She chirped, hugging his back just as fiercely.

“What are you doing here?” 

She grinned. “Rodimus asked me to join the Lost Light.”

“Wow! This is so awesome!”

Swerve handed her, Getaway and Nautica, their drinks.

“Wow!” Jolt exclaimed holding out her drink, eyes wide with appreciation. “This blend is absolutely amazing!”

Swerve pretended to tip his hat to her.

The music was slow and chill, nothing to really dance to, instead made you unwind.

The group moved to the other side where the cushy chairs and such sat. There was a group consisting of Chromedome, Rewind, Cyclonus, Tailgate who arrived several minutes earlier, Skids, and Brainstorm.

The group made room for them which meant Getaway and Jolt sat next to each other. He couldn’t help but notice they sat close enough for their legs to touch.

Brainstorm was pouring energon into his intake. He glanced up at the new femme. 

“Hmm, you don’t look like a flier, yet you can’t possibly be a grounder.”

She tilted her head. 

“I guess I technically am a flier, all things considered. My alt mode is a combiner.” She shrugged as he raised his brows.

“What do you do?” Chromedome asked leaning around Tailgate.

“Er…fight?” The table laughed. “No, I mean are you a specialty bot, were you created for a purpose.”

She chuckled leaning into Getaway slightly. 

“I swear Cybertronians are totally hung up on purpose. I can manipulate electrical currents, and read them so to speak.”

Rewind nodded. “Yeah I heard about that. The tree thing.”

She nodded. “At first I thought it a pretty useless trait. I got picked on for a long time. Then I discovered it’s more practical uses. I became a gifted hacker.”

“Wow, no way.” Getaway said.

She nodded. “Yeah and Serpens is actually a sort of console. I can use him as a portable system.”

“Wow! That is amazing!” Tailgate said, leaning forward on his palms.

 

She chuckled and shifted so she was more comfortable, which brought her closer to Getaway.

He put his arm casually over the back of the headrest and she turned her head to smile up at him.

Skids hid a smile behind his glass.

The group ended up staying pretty late, just chatting.

Jolt whose eyes were getting heavy, slumped slightly, leaning into Getaway. He raised his eyebrow before smiling. She must have been tired as Pit to have just fallen asleep like that.

Several moments passed before her eyes flickered open again. She leaned forward and rubbed at her temples. 

“I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized how tired I was.” She smiled apologetically. “I don’t think I’ve recharged properly in about two solar cycles.” He wanted to ask why but she did look like she was about to drop any second.

“Here, c’mon. Let me walk you to your new hab suite.” He rose and held a hand out to help her up. She gave him a grateful smile and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

“Night everyone. It was nice meeting you. Nautica we can trade books and hangout tomorrow.”

The group all more or less returned the sentiment or simply waved or nodded.

The pair headed out.

“Do you know where your assigned hab suite is?”

She nodded and relayed the number.

He grinned. “You’re down the hall from me.”

“Really?” She asked.

He grinned. “Want me to swing by in the morning and we can fuel up?”

She nodded. “I’d love that.”

She palmed the access pad to her room. 

“Thanks for walking me to my room.” She said, lingering in the hall.

He smiled again. Even with a face mask, she seemed to know when he smiled.

“It’s no problem. If you need anything I’m right down the hall.” He hoped it didn’t sound like he was implying anything.

Regardless she smiled. “Thank you Getaway. I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

The door closed as she vanished inside. He walked to his own hab suite unable to stop smiling.


	3. New Home

Jolt awoke to a soft tapping on her door. She smiled, even as half asleep as she was. She let herself roll out of bed, catching herself at the last possible millisecond. Serpens watched her in amusement from the other side of the room. He slunk off of the other recharge slab.

“Just a moment!” She called. She opened the door, still rubbing the bleariness from her optics.

“Morning sleepy head.” Getaway greeted. She smiled and let Serpens out before her. The door slid closed with a hiss.

“Good morning to you too.” She said, finally starting to feel a bit more alert.

She looked up to see Megatron and a cat like mech striding towards them.

“Morning Megatron!” 

She crouched slightly. “And who are you? We’ve not met yet.”

“I am Ravage. I swear if you try to pet me, I will rip your arm from your miserable body.”

Her eyes widened. She hadn’t expected the cat to have a nasty attitude. Before she could scold him for being an ass, she was interrupted by a menacing snarl.

The cat tilted his head and glared up at Serpens, who stood to his full height, towering over the cat.

“What’s your problem you overgrown flying snake.”

“I am a dragon, something a mangy feline like you has no business associating with. My problem is the way you address her. You will not speak to Jolt as if she were some idiot.” He snarled and took a menacing step forward.

The cat hissed back. “What is she so weak, that she needs you to defend her? I wonder how two weaklings could have survived this long.” 

Serpens let out a bark of a laugh and circled around the cat, the gleam in his eye predatory.

“Cowards you think us. Neither of us are equipped with something as lowly as attention-deflectors. That is a cowardly means to an end cat. If you need to utilize a stealth mode, you should draw upon your own skill. Pray tell what would happen if they were to malfunction. You are a sorry excuse for a spy.” Serpens began to walk off, his snout high.

“Yeah? How about you find something to make of yourself, you factionless serpent.”

Serpens turned back to look over his shoulder, amusement gleaming in his eyes.

“How, pray tell, did something like you pass the ambus test.” He turned away and stalked off.

Jolt was standing with her hand covering her mouth, trying and failing to not look amused.

Ravage snarled which only made her giggle and she sidestepped the pair not bothering to excuse herself. Jolt and Getaway caught up to Serpens.

“Wow. I’ve never seen you so testy.” She commented.

“Ugh, he got under my skin! How dare he, a cassette talk down to you like that?”

Jolt was quiet for a beat.

“Is that the only thing that got your engine revving?”

Getaway snorted and Serpens swung his head around to look at her, but she already vanished inside Swerve’s.

They settled down at a table. 

“Serpens what exactly are you?” Getaway asked.

“I am no mere casseticon if that’s what this is about. I’m a symbiote.”

Getaways brows rose.

“We’re bonded in a way.” Jolt confirmed.

“Ugh casseticons. I swear that mangy cat…”

“Ya know Serpens, they say when you can’t get someone out of your head you’re just constantly thinking about them. C’mon admit you think he’s attractive.”

“I would sooner die.”

Jolt cracked up.

“What’s going on here?” Nautica asked as she approached with Brainstorm, and Skids.

“Teasing Serpens about his growing infatuation with Ravage.” 

“I am- Femme, do you hear yourself?!” Jolt burst into laughter.  
“I am not and never will be infatuated with that appalling creature.”

“Appalling or alluring?” Getaway interjected.

“Oh for the love of- Look I have to deal with her merciless teasing, you on the other hand are not all that important. Besides you had best be ready to receive as much as you give, lest I blab about your current infatuation.”

Skids snorted into his energon and Getaway kicked him under the table. Hard.

Jolt glanced at each of them trying to figure out what was up.

Nautica looked just as confused.

“You too?!” Jolt asked finally putting it all together.

“Er what?” Getaway asked, after shooting a glare at Skids.

“Who is it?” She asked, leaning closer. “Oh crap do I know them?! Are they going to be upset? We’ve been hanging out a lot since yesterday. Wait do they know?”

“Yeah Getaway. Do tell.” Skids said, looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

“You guys are crazy. Serpens was just teasing.”

The dragon-mecha rolled his eyes and went back to his energon.

“Oh.” Jolt pouted, looking put out.

She perked up again. “Good! That just means you get to spend more time with us.” She took a swig of her energon after nodding in satisfaction.

Skids just shook his head and followed suit.

After a while, Jolt finally decided she needed to go explore. After all this would be their new home.

“Hey guys, I’ll catch up with you later. I need to explore.”

Getaway looked up at her. 

“Did you want someone to come with you?”

“Nah, we’ll be fine.”

With that Jolt and Serpens left. They stepped into the hallway, furtively glancing left and right. 

She chose right and they wandered the halls. There were lots of bots, but they didn’t seem to stare as much as usual. Not that she cared either way. She raked her fingers across the wall as she walked. Gently enough that it didn’t cause an audio grating sound. 

She found herself on the bridge again. 

“Jolt! How are you? I was just coming to find you.” Drift greeted her.

“Hi Drift. Er…what for exactly?” 

He chuckled. “Believe it or not Rodimus locked himself out of his office and engaged the protocol lock trying to get back in.”

She followed him through the halls. “Doesn’t the CMO have the security passcode for like every door on the ship?”

Drift laughed again. “Yeah but would you want to interrupt a scary medic to tell them you locked yourself out?”

“Fair enough.”

They arrived back at Rodimus’ office. Rodimus was standing next to the door with his arms crossed. Brainstorm appeared to be trying to pick the lock unsuccessfully. 

“I brought help.” Drift said, standing aside to let her through.

“Oh please. This is a delicate situation. Best to be left to the professionals and not a crude hacker.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than an alarm went off. Brainstorm had tripped the security protocols.

She shoved him out of the way.

“Oh move it fool.”

She placed her hand along the wall, feeling for the small console. She found it and held her hand over it.

“Jolt will you need me?” He didn’t seem inclined to move towards her, as if he already knew her answer.

She shook her head. “No, the worst part is just the damned alarm that Brainstorm set off.” 

Her lids dropped slightly in concentration. She could feel the wiring, working like the neural passageways like a brain or processor. She simply followed the currents and systematically shut down and reset both the alarm and the door lock. 

Several seconds later, the alarm went off and the door hissed open.

“Wow. Uh Thanks!” Rodimus said stepping into his office.

“What was that about crude hackers?” She said, smirking at Brainstorm.

He grumbled a bit.

She started to walk away with a laugh.

“Just admit it. Hacking is an art in its own right.” She called over her shoulder.

She and Serpens continued on, hoping an adventure would spring out at them.

Instead she got Megatron.

“Hey Megs.” She chirped.

“My name is Megatron.” 

She tilted her head. “Yeah? Well my full name is Joltarion of Vector Limvor, but you know that gets to be a mouthful.”

Megatron shook his head and continued to do whatever it was he did.

She followed.

“So Megsy what are you doing?” She asked falling into step beside him.

He eyed her warily. Bots didn’t tend to want to spend any amount of time with him. What game was she playing?

“I need to take inventory of fuel.”

“Oh. Can I help?”

This time he didn’t bother to disguise the surprise on his face. 

“You wish to help me take stock?”

She nodded. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it. It’ll go quicker with two people.”

He shrugged, an annoying habit he’d picked up from Rodimus of all mechs.

“Fine.”

She chirped, not quite words, just a sound that conveyed her satisfaction. He wondered if her native language consisted of sounds like that.

She followed him to the store room and he flicked on the lights.

“Whoa.” The room was huge.

“They store all the energon here huh?”

“Among other things. Just tell me how much of that medical grade energon there is.” He pointed to a long, tall shelf that stretched nearly to the ceiling. 

“Ay ay.” She chirped.

He turned away and began to count the rows of coolant when she turned back.

“532 canisters.”

He turned back to her optics narrowed.

She looked up at him expectantly.

“How-how could you possibly have counted that fast?” He asked.

She tapped the side of her head. “That whole tree mapping thing? It works the same way. Energon has a slightly positive charge, which is where we get the energy.”

He quirked his eyebrows and pointed to the jet fuel, wordlessly.

“764 canisters.”

They got through several hours of work in several minutes. He jotted down the last of the numbers in his datapad.

He let the femme out first and locked the door behind them.

“Well, thank you. That is a pretty impressive skill.”

She gave a mock bow. “It helps I suppose. I’ll see ya later Megsy.”

The pair trotted off in search of another adventure.

She tapped on the door she found herself in front of.

“Enter.” She headed inside and gaped at all the cool sciency stuff. 

“You look like you’re in awe. I appreciate someone who can appreciate science.”

She bit off a laugh at Perceptor. “Oh no. I’m really just appreciating the fact that anyone can be this smart. I really don’t understand any of the stuff I’m looking at.”

Perceptor snorted and returned to his work, now only lending half an ear. He wasn’t overly interested in entertaining another Rodimus.

She padded over to him.

“What are you working on?” He was frantically typing commands in a computer and making adjustments to…a thing.

“I’m recalibrating this holomatter energy generator.”

She tilted her head to watch him. He seemed to be having trouble adding inputs and simultaneously working on the generator.

She smiled. “I could probably help you.”

He leveled her with a tolerant look.

“That’s very kind of you but- He broke off at the look on her face.

“Look I don’t really have a job and I like being helpful in any way I can. C’mon at least give me a chance. I’ll tell you if I don’t understand something. Besides you seem like the smart kind of guy who could easily fix any mistake someone like me makes.”

He considered her words.

Flattery. Gets ‘em every time.

“Okay. Fine. How do you even propose to help me?” 

She stepped closer and pushed him gently from the computer. She let her hands hover over the keys for a moment before pressing a few keys.

“Holy shit, this database is…pretty extensive.”

Serpens padded forward but she shook her head.

“It’s okay buddy. I don’t want to risk you crashing.”

He snorted. “My processor was evolved for that.” 

She shook her head. “Yes, but you don’t have a governor. I at least know when I’ll crash.”

She tapped few keys. “So really just calibration and reformatting commands?” 

Perceptor raised his eyebrow ridge. “That’s…right.”

“Oh please don’t look too surprised. It’s not an insult to my intelligence or anything.” She snarked as she hopped onto the platform the console was seated on. Serpens climbed behind her so that she could lean against him.

She reached a hand up to touch a seam along her wide audial fin and it opened with a click. Perceptor watched in fascination as she tugged a cable from it and plugged it into the processor.

After a few seconds her eyes went blank. Her processor made a staticky screech in binary before she said in a flat voice, “initial protocol sequence: delta”.

Binary fragments scattered, visible in her optics.

Her eyes focused again. “Just give me verbal commands.” 

“Matrices 6: Merge. Matrices 47: Modify.” 

He was pleased to see that she was able to do everything he was doing with minimal prompt and after a while she began doing so automatically with very little to go on verbally. It was like having an AI help him.

It was much easier than trying to do the entire process himself. He’d die before asking Brainstorm to help.

He ended the command sequence and it took her a moment to collect herself.

“Is she broken?” Perceptor asked, half jokingly, turning to Serpens.

The dragon shot him an amused look.

“No. Dragging a consciousness through cyber-space always takes a moment.”

She stretched suddenly and shot him an amused look as well.

“He’s right it’s a chore. I could go for some energon.”

She slid off the platform.

“Well, thank you for the help today Jolt.”

She shrugged and gave him an easy smile.

“It’s no problem.”

They trotted out into the hall. When they got far enough away, she sagged against the wall.

Serpens considered her for a moment before turning around and forcing his body between her legs. He swept her off her feet and easily carried her.

“Strange. It usually takes way more than that to exert your energy.”

She shrugged. “I’ll feel better after that energon. I hadn’t realized I was so low on coolant.”

Serpens craned his neck to look at her optics narrowed in annoyance.

“Jolt! You need to take better care of yourself!” He chided.

“Isn’t that why you’re here though?”

He grumbled for several moments about bratty femmes.

After a moment she tapped him lightly. “Can we see if Getaway is home?”

He smiled, though she couldn’t see it.

“Of course.”

She tapped gently on his door. Several seconds later the door slid apart to reveal Getaway…in chains.

“Uh…some freaky BDSM stuff?”

He choked a laugh. “Nah just practicing. I’m an escape artist. It’s what I do.”

“Please don’t let me interrupt.” 

He gestured for her to step inside. They did and she settled in the corner, leaning against Serpens.

Getaway twisted around in the chains for a moment, wiggling this way and that before the chains fell in a pile at his feet.

“Holy bits! That was amazing!” She clapped enthusiastically. 

“Ha ha. Thank you. I try.” He hauled her to her feet. 

“I have some energon here if you want.” He said, turning to his table.

She shook her head. 

“Well I was wondering if you wanted to go to Swerve’s. I uh…need jet fuel grade.” She added after seeing the high performance energon, that speedsters and racer frames favored.

He turned to her, eyes raking over her form in curiosity. 

“You take jet fuel energon?” 

“Yeah. It’s a long story…”

He regarded her for a moment. “You… don’t have to explain if you don’t want to.”

“Maybe one day buddy.”

She bumped shoulders with him.

“Now come on you gonna make me drink alone?”

He chuckled as they left. “Never.”


	4. This Is No Time For A Confession

“So let me get this straight. You want us to go down there and look for clues.” Jolt asked, she looked incredulous.

“Pretty much.” Rodimus said.

“Sweet!” She responded. “When do we leave?” 

“Now.”

“Finally some damned adventure.” She muttered turning away.

She trotted towards the scout ships, sad that she couldn’t take her own. Although the Leading Light seemed pretty cool in its own respect. She met up with the rest of the crew. Rodimus wasn’t far behind her.

She settled next to Tailgate. “Looks like it’s me and you buddy.”

“Really?! Oh cool! I thought I would be with Cyclonus but he was needed for something else.” 

“Three man teams are optimal for recon missions like this.”

“Three? But it’s just you and me…”

Serpens gave an indignant snort. 

“Hey, don’t count him out.”

Tailgate cringed. “Oh Serpens! I’m so sorry! That was so rude of me. Please forgive me.”

Serpens gave him a smile. “Only because you’re one of the nicest bots I’ve ever met.”

Tailgate beamed.

“Hey Scout! Take care of Jolt for me will ya?” Getaway said, settling in the seats across from them.

Tailgate nodded. “Of course! She’s my friend too.”

Jolt smiled. This was nice. Having others worry about you.

Rodimus stood up and the ship fell silent.

“Alright guys here’s your debrief.”

Skids coughed.

“Ugh…your brief. Anyway, we are above what was apparently a Decepticon stronghold. They’ve cleared out but left a few combatants behind. They’re guarding something on the planet and we’re going to find out what.”

He gazed about the scout ship.

“Now since we’re pretty blind as far as motives, we’ve got our combat ready teams. All brawn.” 

Whirl shouted something in excitement.

“Er…yeah, and we’ve got our recon teams. Bots with analytic skills paired with bots with combat skills or both just in case.”

“We’re dropping in hot in just a few moments so get ready.”

There was a bustle of activity as everyone got ready.

“Tailgate me and you are going to drop in, since we have the areas farthest from the base.”

“Uhm…how are we going to “drop in” exactly?”

She grinned. “Do you trust me?”

“Somehow that makes me wary.”

She laughed aloud.

 

“Hey Jolt…seriously. Be careful down there.” Getaway said. She couldn’t recall him looking so serious before.

“Of course. You guys be careful too.” Nautica and Skids both gave her a thumbs up.

Serpens stood on his hind legs and their bodies melded together.

“That is literally the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Tailgate said, as she twitched her wings.

She grinned.

“Roddy! Recon Team Dragon Strike is deploying!”

“Dragon Strike?” He said, tilting his head and squinting at her.“Why are you talking like that?”   
“It sounds cool. Don’t ruin this for me.”

“Whatever.” He said, with a hint of amusement. “Just go.”

She grinned at Tailgate, who backed away a few steps. She grabbed him without warning and leapt through the hatch. He screamed the whole way down.

She grinned at the rush of falling. When they neared the ground, she flared her wings, catching air and glided the rest of the way.

Tailgate looked back at her, with a wondrous smile now that he knew she had a good hold on him.

Now that the wind wasn’t rushing past it was quite peaceful.

She landed at a jog so she wouldn’t jostle the minibot too much and Serpens separated from her.

“That was seriously awesome!” 

She chuckled and they made their way. She wasn’t very happy now that they were on ground. It was a snowy land and she wasn’t fond of the cold. The minibot on the other hand was excited. Apparently he had never seen snow.

“C’mon Jolt, what’s not to like about it.”

“It’s cold and wet.” She grumbled. She forced air from her intakes, and watching the snow flutter out of them, her expression disdainful.

He just giggled his response. Even she had to admit the cutie-pie made the snow look sort of fun. Almost.

She followed behind him at a subdued pace. Scope over her right eye, checking for the levels of radiation that Rodimus said they picked up on the ship.

She was noticing the planet seemed to be unumtrium rich. She wondered if the radiation they picked up was a mutation.

She picked her way through the snow, still grumbling about the cold, when she noticed a strange glow. 

“Serpens, can I see that transport unit?”

The mech subspaced a large containment cube. 

“Thanks buddy. Hey Tailgate I found the stuff.” Tailgate doubled back in excitement.

“Wow it has a pretty glow.” 

She nodded. “Yeah, the metals are pretty rare. This is what they were guarding. My guess is they did a slag job at harvesting.”

She commed Rodimus to let them know they had confirmed the radiation. He commed back saying that Nightbeat’s group also hit the jackpot.

They started back after subspacing the cube. No point in trying to find more if the majority had already been harvested. Besides they had a good amount. What they would even use it for was a mystery.

She was caught up in her thoughts and nearly missed how the ground trembled where they walked. She almost expected a land slide. 

No.

“Tailgate!” She shrieked, feeling the ground buckle. His head snapped up. They weren’t going to make it. She dove for him, wrapping herself around him as much as she could as the ground collapsed. They both screamed as they fell. Rocks slammed into them and she pulled Tailgate closer, trying desperately to draw the minibot closer to her body. He was smaller and wouldn’t survive those hits. Not that she fared all that well. As far as size went, she was a standard midsize bot. Her armor though, was made for speed and flexibility. She wasn’t designed to take brute hits.

They finally stopped falling, slamming into the densely packed earth. She was immediately knocked offline.

Her systems came back online sluggishly. First was her audio receptors. 

“Oh Jolt, please wake up!” She could hear Tailgate saying.

“I’m awake.” She managed to say. Her vocalizer had taken minor damage and the words came out staticky.

“Jolt! Jolt!” 

She recognized the frantic voice as Serpens.

“She’s online!” Tailgate yelled back. He seemed to understand she couldn’t speak very loudly. She initiated a diagnostic and almost wished she hadn’t. None of the news came back positive.

Her temperature was quickly dropping below acceptable levels. If hers was this low, she feared for Tailgate who was much smaller. She ran her engine at high idle to generate heat for him. She read through the rest of the report. She had taken damage to her processor which explained why she was having such a hard time focusing. It would continue to worsen over time. She sighed and continued.

She had managed to sever a main fuel line. It had apparently been leaking steadily, but slowly. Still, she would end up bleeding out at this rate.

“Tailgate! Jolt hang on! The others are coming! I can’t dig you guys out!”

Tailgate yelled something back but it sounded funny. She giggled, before focusing on more pressing matters.

She was about to speak but Tailgate spoke first.

“Oh Jolt! Why! Why did you do that?”

She sobered again.

“Hmm, Cyclonus strikes me as the type of mech who would literally kill me, if you died on my watch.”

“Oh God.” 

She started to lift her head, but realized how closely packed the rocks were.

“We’re not going to make it out are we?” She could hear the rising panic and internally sighed. She wasn’t going to be able to hold the both of them together.

“Tailgate.” She spoke his name calmly and full of authority.

“Tailgate listen to me. Yes. We’re in a tight spot, but if you listen to me I swear to you, we will make it out alright. Can you be brave for me?”

“Yes.” His voice came out as a whisper.

“Okay, my processor is damaged, and I don’t know how much longer I have before I start losing it. The more pressing issue is my main fuel line has been severed. I’ve been leaking since we fell. This is the hard part. I need you to superheat your finger and cauterize it.”

He started blubbering.

She chuckled. “C’mon you can do it buddy. Didn’t you promise Getaway you would protect me?” She asked almost teasingly.

He stilled at that.

“Okay Tails’ you have to finish the job, no matter how loud I scream or how much you think you’re hurting me.”

She felt him nod and his arms circled around her. They had to maneuver quite a bit so he could reach past her strut and find the broken line.

“Oh God. There’s so much energon. How are you even online?”

“Just do it Tails.”

She felt the heat pouring from his finger as he began to super heat it.

“Hang on Jolt.” He whispered as warning.

She screamed as his finger made contact with the line. She writhed in pain trying to keep her movements minimal, lest she dislodge the rocks and cause a slide.

She wailed, the pain unbearable and tears filled her optics.

Just like that it was over.

They both lay panting. Jolt trying to shake off the pain and Tailgate trying to recover from hurting his friend.

“Good job, buddy. You did it.” She said, once she caught her breath. The words were horribly slurred.

“Jolt? Are you okay?!” Came Serpens frantic screaming.

Tailgate yelled back that he had to cauterize a main line. She winced at the loud sound near her audial.

She suddenly realized her engine was running high idle. She couldn’t remember why, but she figured it was really important so she left it. Even if it made unpleasant sounds. 

Her engine even stalled several times.

“Hey Jolt? Talk to me?”

“What about little guy?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Why don’t you have an alt mode?”

“Nope. Next.” If she could wag a finger at him, she would.

“Okay. Fine, touchy subject.” He went silent. “How did you meet Serpens? What’s his deal?”

“Long story.” She said, simply. It was nearly getting hard to understand her. She shuddered as her systems struggled to offline.

“Okay. No questions about your past. Got it. Future only.”

“You seem really close to Megatron.”

“Hmm? Should I not befriend him? He seems nice if not a bit rough around the edges.”

Tailgate choked. “Rough around th- I keep forgetting you’re not from Cybertron.”

She shifted against him, but didn’t ask anything. She was honestly just enjoying listening to his voice. It almost made her sleepy…

“Hey! Jolt! Don’t fall asleep on me. Stay awake.”

She giggled. “Look at you. You’ll make him proud.”

“Who?” She could feel his confusion.

“Getaway. Duh.”

Tailgate gave a breathy laugh at that.

“Just like Cyclonus, I don’t think he’d forgive me if something happened to you.”

She didn’t comment, her thoughts slowly turning to mush. 

“Jolt! Tailgate!” A chorus of voices were shouting.

“We’re down here!” Tailgate yelled back. “Hurry! Jolt’s really hurt!”

The next several moments were a race to get to them. Jolt couldn’t keep her higher functions online and they systematically began to shut-down.

Rocks began to shift. As they were pulled from the top, the smaller ones would fall through pinging off their armor. She giggled when she realized, she now knew what it was like to be buried alive. Light broke through and she heard someone mutter, “oh no.”

Suddenly they were being pulled from the debris. A mech much larger than she lifted her and tucked them to their chest. She curled, ignoring the pain and welcoming the warmth. She screeched when she was set in another pair of arms.

“Hey kid. You’re alright. You can idle down your engine.” Ratchet’s voice was soothing.

“But Tailgate. He’s so little.” She said, her voice staticky and low.

“You did good kid. He’s going to be just fine.”

Her engine idled and nearly stalled. 

“Slag!” Ratchet cursed. “We need to be moving out. Now!” Serpens trotted beside them, watching his friend closely.

Jolt whined, a low keening pitch.

Ratchet glanced down at her. They weren’t far from the ship.

“Getaway?” 

He appeared as if she’d summoned him.

“I’m here Jolt.”

She smiled and tried to reach for him, but found herself too weak. When he realized what she was trying to do, he closed the distance and laid a hand on her helm.

Once they sat foot on the ship, Ratchet sat her down and swaddled her in blankets. She wriggled until she could lean against Getaway. He immediately pulled her into his arms and held her trying to conserve any and all body heat. She was already doing better outside of the cold environment.

“Is Tailgate okay?” She asked, her voice warbling.

“I’m okay!” He chirped. She found him in layers of blankets, curled against Cyclonus. Cyclonus met her eyes and nodded. A sign of his gratitude. 

She couldn’t keep her eyes open. No one was yelling at her to stay awake and she immediately passed out.

 

When she came to, she recognized the medibay. She shifted, feeling a pull in her lower back. Ratchet must have already done his repairs. A tickling sensation in her right arm made her open her eyes and peek.

Tailgate was sitting on the berth, paintbrush in hand, filling in the scratches and touching up her paint job. She smiled at him.

She tried to speak and it came out as a screeching burst of binary. She reset her vocalizer and tried again.

“Hey buddy.” Still hoarse, but it would do.

“Hi!” He looked down at her arm. “I didn’t have anything to do, so I figured I’d redo your paintjob and keep Getaway company.”

“Getaway?” She asked.

He shot her an amused look and gestured to her other side. 

Lo and behold there was the mech in question. He was slumped on the side of the berth, helm tucked in the crook of his arms. His hand held hers. She flushed.

Tailgate giggled. “I don’t know how much you remember but you said his name and he hasn’t left your side. Ratchet tried to make him leave but he argued that leaving you alone could make your condition worse. Ratchet didn’t have much argument for that one. Even First Aid argued for him.” Tailgate giggled again.

“Has he recharged or had energon?” 

If Tailgate had lips, the expression in his eyes suggested he’d be biting them.

“Well he’s been recharging in here with you so…”

She flushed an even deeper shade. 

“You’ve been out for two days.” Serpens said, speaking for the first time.

“Hey Serpens. How are you?” She greeted, at ease seeing her best friend.

“Better now that you’re awake. Need anything?”

“Yes, please. Can you bring back-

“Some energon for Getaway?” He finished.

He hopped down and padded to the door.

“Be right back.” He called over his shoulder.

Tailgate finished with her arm and let her pull it back.

She laid a hand over Getaway’s helm. She loved the design. The touch woke him up and his optics shuttered, cycling for a second to focus on her. A smile broke out.

“Well hello Sleeping Beauty.” she said with a grin.

“I should be saying that to you. After all you were out for two whole days.”

At that moment Ratchet, First Aid and Serpens entered.

Serpens padded over to Getaway and offered him the energon cube.

“Thanks Serp.” He said, popping the tab and taking a swallow all without letting go of her hand. Maybe it was because he still held her hand. Or maybe because he came to her rescue so willingly. Or perhaps the fact that he stayed with her in the medibay that she was looking at Getaway in a whole new light. The way the florescent bulbs, light up his elaborate helm crest. The way his spoiler flared out over his shoulders. Simply watching the energon lines in his throat move as he drinks. Speaking of which…now she was almost certain he had a mouth….

“Jolt are you listening?” First Aid asked, he seemed slightly annoyed that she wasn’t paying attention.

“What? Yes….no. I didn’t really hear a word you said.” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Sorry.”

He smiled behind his mask. “It’s okay. I was just saying that we can release you. You’ve healed up just fine. Just take it easy on your vocalizer. It was damaged pretty badly and still has a bit of minor healing.”

She nodded and sat up, Getaway reluctantly let go of her hand.

She stretched and rolled out of bed.

“Thank you.” She said, turning to Ratchet and First Aid. They brushed her off saying it was their jobs. 

“Thank you for the wonderful repaint Tailgate.”

He smiled. “The least I could do.”

She petted Serpens head adoringly. No words needed to be spoken between them. It was known that the other would do the exact same.

She turned to Getaway. “And thank you, for staying with me.”

He grinned at her. “It was no problem.” He said, as they left. He yawned.

She looked up at him in concern.

“Are you still tired? You should take a nap.” She asked, guilt coloring her voice.

He waved her away. “Don’t worry about me. I’m considering just falling asleep on the observation deck. It’s got comfy chairs and a nice view. Want to join me? You may wanna rest up. I know for a fact there will be a party at Swerve’s to celebrate you and Tailgate’s survival. So be ready for that.” 

She laughed and followed him up.

He practically threw himself into a seat nearest a window. She surprised them both by curling up on the seat next to him. His optics widened but her eyes were on the stars whizzing past. He shrugged and put an arm around her. When she didn’t react negatively he sighed in contentment.

They were both quiet and let the stars paint a pretty picture.

Jolt nervously stuttered trying to rush through the sentence before her courage failed her.

“Getaway I’m really glad we met and I’m so happy I got to join the Lost Light. This is a little weird and a little embarrassing because I don’t normally do the whole confession thing, but that’s more because I don’t tend to get to know people. So I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m glad I’m getting to know you and I’m actually kind of relieved you’re not interested in anyone or have an amica endura, because maybe-“

She looked up at him and nearly whined aloud. He was asleep. There was no way she could get through that spiel a second time. She sulked miserably for several moments before realizing, that she could just enjoy the time with him for now. She huffed in annoyance at herself before settling down. She shifted and laid her head across his chest, letting his sparkbeat lull her to sleep.


End file.
